2/24/08

You Don't Know What You Have Til It's Gone...

Our wireless router box died on Friday. It smelled like burnt popcorn. We got a new one on Saturday and it only took about 7 mother-grabbing hours and countless calls to technical support to get it working. The tech support group at one point told us that we had erased our i.p. address so we wouldn't be able to connect to the internet. WTF?

Sweety did some button pushing and now we are connected again. He honestly doesn't know what he did to make it work but I am just glad that it is. To put it mildly, I was beside myself during the 24 hours that the connection was gone. I haven't figured out how to make the wireless connection secure (this router is a different brand than the old one) and my brain was too fried to deal with it Saturday night. I'll tackle it on Tuesday or Wednesday when I'm off of work.

The desktop computer says that there are no wireless connections in its area but it is connected through our router. Go figure. It must be magic.

Hey, I have a hypothetical situation for you.*

Say that you've had a bit to drink. And on your way home, you run over someone and kill them. Nobody is around to bear witness and the victim is definitely dead.

Do you think you'd be in less trouble with the law if you called the police and they could see that you'd been drinking and driving and killed someone or would you be in less trouble if you went on home and confessed the next day? Told the cops that you fled the scene because you were freaked out and don't mention the drinking so you just have a hit and run charge?

Would a hit and run be less trouble than a driving under the influence charge?

*Totally hypothetical.

I have never even come close to running over someone. Well, maybe I almost ran over some guy's legs once when he was changing a flat tire on the side of the road in the rain but I did not hit him. Made him sit up straight though.

And I don't know anyone who has done such a thing. This is a question that I like to ask Sweety when he's half asleep.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Technical support just makes things up half the time. I'm glad that I can fix most computer-related problems myself.

Totally hypothetical answer: I'd just carry the secret with me to my grave. I see no reason to go to jail if the victim is definitely dead.

Chickie said...

Midwestern City Boy - I believe they were making stuff up because we heard a different thing each time we called in.

THA - I would too. But if I had to tell, for whatever reason, I think I'd wait til the next day.

Rich | Championable said...

Hypothetically, how would you be absolutely certain the person is dead? People can survive incredible things.... Since a person was involved, I would report it immediately.

BO Snagley said...

i would report it that night. and take what i get.
thats what i would want if my family was hit.

pissed off patricia said...

Just the idea of computer problems and dealing on the phone with techs, makes me want to crawl under the bed and stay there forever.

I would report the accident immediately because my guilty conscious would eat me alive if I didn't.

212degreedesigns said...

my step dad actually DID that...
but he was in indonesia when it happened...
and yes he went home..
yes he retired from that job soon afterwards.

never got in any real trouble though
although i think he had to pay they family a small fee.

lol

Monogram Queen said...

I must confess if no one saw me I would take it to my grave and NOT confess. At all.

Jess said...

Dang I would be in freak out mode if I lost my net... Beside myself would be an understatment... LOL

Hypothetically.... I would report it right then because its a life and death situation.

Anonymous said...

You should definitely call the cops right away, even with the drinking & driving charges being a strong possibility to be added on top of vehicular manslaughter. If you flee the scene and they catch you (whether by your own admission or they figure it out), you're screwed, no way around it.

Mike said...

I'd definitely take the hit and run charge over the drunk driving one. There's the slim chance you could get out of the hit and run thing but no chance whatsoever of getting out of the drunk driving charge.

Internet problems suck worse than anything. Every now and then mine will disconnect me for no known reason and when it does my heart just stops until I am connected again.

themom said...

hmmm... that is one of those hypotheticals that garners various responses...but till faced with the situation, no one really knows whre there mindset will take them.

I can't stand being away from my puter. I imagine someday there will be rehab facilities for people like me.

Chickie said...

Rich Championable - The person's head would have to be removed to be sure he was dead. Or flattened. Otherwise, I'd assume there was a smidge of hope that he was alive and would report it immediately.

Bo Snagley - that's what i would want if my family was hit. True, true.

pissed off patricia - I called the techs once and then made Sweety deal with them for the rest of the calls. I couldn't handle it.

I think I could bury it in my conscious. And I'd spend the rest of my life being really nice to try and make up for it.

heather - I guess the laws there are a little different, huh?

Patti - You have a sister in me!

Jess - Saying that I was beside myself was an understatement. Completely panicking on the inside would be more like it!

bekah - I think you and Sweety share a brain wave concerning this subject.

Mike - That's what I think too. Even if you hadn't had enough to drink to be drunk, I still think it would be worse than a hit and run.

This was the first time our internet had crapped out. I do not like the feeling at all!

themom - See, you should plan for this sort of hypothetical situation because if it happens, you won't have the luxury of time to think about it. Kind of like having a Zombie Survival Plan in place.

I don't want rehab. I just want my net!